On 15 March 2017 the Government published draft new Regulations intended to implement the Fourth Money Laundering Directive ((EU) 2015/849) (“MLD4”) that needs to be transposed into UK law by 26 June 2017.
Continue ReadingWe are pleased to announce that we have very recently published the fourth edition of our popular Guide to Invoice Finance Law , which brings the previous third edition published in 2012 right up-to-date with relevant legislative and case law developments.
Continue ReadingAs long ago as December 2014 the Government announced its intention to bring forward legislation outlawing bans on assignment in commercial contracts.
Continue ReadingThe process of replacing the Insolvency Rules 1986 and 28 subsequent amendments has necessarily involved difficult balancing exercises between the interests of numerous stakeholders, but the general consensus among creditors is that The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (SI 2016/1024) (“IR 2016”) which came into force on 6 April 2017 are likely to significantly improve the insolvency process for most creditors.
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The implementation of the supplemental 3% stamp duty land tax (‘SDLT’) charge came into force on 1 April 2016. Bermans has previously looked at the impact of the higher rates of SDLT, particularly in relation to its effect on individual joint purchasers, in an article that can be found here. In this article we look at the charges in relation to companies, partnerships, trusts and inherited properties.
Continue ReadingThe Regime
The current legislation in relation to data protection in England and Wales is the Data Protection Act 1998 which was derived from the European wide Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC). The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is due to come into force in May 2018. Whilst many of the provisions are already covered by the Data Protection Act, there are important new provisions of which businesses need to be aware.
Continue ReadingBermans recently held an exclusive “Ladies Evening” at Boodles, Lord Street in Liverpool.
The night was a great success, with guests admiring Boodles’ stunning collections whilst drinking champagne and mixing with other female professionals.
Continue ReadingWe met up with Jack Barmby (pictured below), Founder & CEO of multichannel customer interaction company, Gnatta, to find out about his typical working day, business challenges, and what he would do if he was chancellor.
Jack graduated in 2014 and has been focused on learning the keys to disruptive growth. His background comes in the form of social media consultancy during his University studies, and since has paved the way to re-imagine and reshape the way businesses and customers talk to each other through the use of Gnatta. This, as well as growing an outsourcing customer service team of 350, FM Outsource and Gnatta give businesses all around the UK and the world the ability to connect with their customers more effectively than ever.
1. What is your business?
Gnatta is a web based application that let’s businesses deliver a more intelligent customer service solution. We act as a thin layer between the customer and the customer service team to help ensure the business is answering the right customers at the right time. Focused on large scale customer service operations, Gnatta will automate a large part of the information gathering and routing that teams would otherwise have to facilitate, letting the advisors focus wholly on the customer query, helping provide a service that works for the customer and the business.
2. Which solicitors do you use at Bermans and how do we compare to other firms?
We’ve been working with Jon Davage as part of our demerger. Jon and the team have been phenomenal with quick turnaround and a really high standard of work.
3. What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business and maintaining profits?
For us it’s all about sales. From day one we’ve been a product first business focused on delivering a product that is ahead of the market, fit for purpose and can wow our clients. Where we’ve spent a lot less time is in developing our sales pipeline; profits have been invested back into product development but our sales strategy as yet, hasn’t matured. We’re profitable and are making a product fit for the market and a leader in its sector, but to continue to grow we need to find the right people that need the solution we provide.
4. Tell us about your typical working day?
It’s a mix of helping resolve BAU issues with clients, speaking with new prospects and thinking about the strategic direction going forward. As a quick developing team, most of my time is taken up in helping keep everybody focussed and keep the team working synchronously as we continue to grow.
5. What has been a highlight for Gnatta over the last 12 months?
As a product first team, it’s got to be some of the features we’ve implemented. We’ve had some great clients wins including Missguided and ASOS, but we’ve been really excited about our AI functionality that we can start rolling out to our customers. AI is a new endeavour for businesses, and our take on it is going to be a real game changer; we can implement AI to get involved in the customer journey only in very specific scenarios to make the customer journey slicker. For example, let’s say you want to know where your order is, the bot will ask you for DPA information instantly, and once it has it (or can’t get it) it’ll pass that to a team member to give you the personalised service. Customer wins, business wins.
6. What are your plans for Gnatta for the year ahead?
We’ve got a great product, but we’re never as far ahead as we’d like to think and so the answer must come in two parts. Firstly, we need to keep developing new, exciting things that wow people, because if we’re not doing it, someone else out there is. Secondly we need to mature our sales process and get some new clients involved and on board; we know we can provide something truly innovative and we’d love the opportunity to show what we can do to more businesses.
7. Is there a sector or industry that you are strong in or looking to develop opportunities?
We’ve had great success in fashion retail and would love to develop into other retail sectors. Any business who has a strong digital presence on multiple channels would benefit from using Gnatta.
8. Do you find social media assists your business and if so, how?
Certainly! A big arm of what we provide is a platform for businesses to speak to their customer via social. One of our focuses is the impact of social for businesses. As a medium to let a customer vent, compliment, berate or otherwise a business or product with no barriers or say from the business, it impacts everyone in a massive way.
9. If you were chancellor, what single change would you make to help improve the economy and/or your business?
I’d love to implement a system where startups had access to development resource. Big businesses would be obliged to contribute a small portion of their development resource to small start ups (validated by the system first, of course) to give them chance to get their ideas off the ground. How many people do you know with a great idea that will never have the capital of attraction to get the right talent to get a prototype? Imagine the number great ideas would crop up if the barriers to entry in terms of development resource were lowered.
10. What are your passions away from business?
I’ve always had a big swimming background, so I like keeping fit. That aside, I yoyo between reading socioeconomic behavioural books and epic fantasties (not the classic combo), spending time with friends and family and networking with like minded guys and girls.
Whether you’re looking to better understand and listen to your customers, improve your customer experiences across all channels, seeking a third party customer service provider or planning a social engagement campaign, contact Gnatta:
t: 0333 344 0659
Twitter: @Gnatta
Connect on: LinkedIn
WANT TO BE FEATURED NEXT TIME?
To feature your company in the next issue please contact our Marketing Assistant, Emma Bartram on 0151 224 0506 or email emma.bartram@bermans.co.uk
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Continue ReadingDom Raban is the MD of Corporation Pop, a digital innovation agency. He has been creating ‘stuff’ for nearly 40 years, from punk fanzines in the 1970s to content for emerging technology platforms now. Currently Corporation Pop are working on several Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) projects, including an app for child patients that helps reduce the stress associated with hospitalisation by increasing familiarisation with staff, environments and procedures.
Continue ReadingThe Supreme Court has recently issued a decision in the case of Ilott v Mitson turning on the interpretation of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the Act ). In England and Wales a testator can choose to distribute their estate to anyone subject to the possibility of an excluded person bringing a claim under the Act.
The Court may decide to make financial provision for a dependent of the deceased be it a child, spouse, or former spouse if the Court concludes that the testator failed to make adequate financial provision for them. Such a claim is more likely to succeed if the Claimant is receiving state benefits.
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